HENRY II

b) What are the main contemporary records
for the reign of Henry II ? Evaluate the reliability of these sources.

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c) What problems did the
administration of the Angevin Empire raise for Henry ? How did it affect
his policies in England?

Caryl Dane

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The task of personally ruling and of constantly travelling around his
immense territories raised problems for Henry. As duke of Normandy (1150),
count of Anjou (1151) and duke of Aquitaine (1152) and associated lordships,
Henry's continental dominions were more vulnerable than his territory in
England. Making substantial gains in expanding his territory and power
by war and diplomacy, Henry overshadowed the king of France (and, married
his ex-wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine). Louis VII, being his nominal overlord,
was watchful for opportunities to reassert his authority and encourage
Henry's enemies. Henry spent twenty-one of the thirty-four years of his
reign on the continent, governing directly, consolidating his authority
and defending his dominions.

How did it affect his policies in England?

Henry had to increasingly rely on representatives and the administrative
institutions which diverged from the royal court; chamber, chancery and,
especially, the exchequer. The king's frequent and prolonged absences left
much authority in the hands of justiciars and chancellors. He appointed
a network of trusted officials, as he needed them, to a variety of functions
and with them and regularly-kept records kept in communication with his
provincial government.

In a series of Assizes Henry unified and rationalised judicial procedure
to ensure efficiency in his absence and English common law developed.

He set up a permanent court which was in regular session in Westminster
and a system of frequent circuits of royal justices, or eyres.

He had his lawyers establish standardised writs that could be sued out
of the royal chancery.There was an increased use of juries. A division
of authority established between the sheriff, a jury of local men and the
royal justices which was only effective when they were working in unity,
allowed Henry to delegate and extend royal authority without endowing any
one element with overall decisive power.

Fines were introduced to supplant ordeal by battle.

From:-

H.R.Loyn, The Making of the English Nation,1991, Thames & Hudson.

W.L.Warren, Henry II, 1973, Eyre Methuen Ltd.

CARYL DANE

d) What problems did Henry
inherit from his predecessor Stephen ? How did he solve them ?

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Georgina Taylor

Stephen's reign had been a dark chapter in English history. Stephen's
main problem had been his inability to act against the errant barons. This
inability led to the slow erosion of Stephen's authority, due to the increasing
power of the barons. Stephen had failed to keep law and order and the barons
took advantage of this by seizing property illegally. Stephen had also
granted large amounts of English territory to the Scottish in return for
an end to the attacks on the anglo-scot border. His relationship with the
church also deteriorated, and led to the church having much judicial latitude
at the cost of royal authority. Stephen also succumbed to an unfavourable
treaty with Geoffrey of Anjou to end hostilities in Normandy.

The civil war had resulted in much of England being exposed to complete
disorder, and people were struggling to survive. The was a higher degree
of criminal activity and brigandage by mercenary troops. These were the
circumstances which greeted Henry II when he became king. He had come to
the throne amid the anarchy of Stephen's reign. One of the first steps
Henry made as king was the deposition of all the Flemish mercenaries which
Stephen had used during his later years. Although this meant a reduction
of Henry's military strength, it was compensated by a rise in public opinion.
Henry was moving himself into a position of dominance, slowly extending
his control. Gervase of Canterbury believed Henry's immediate purpose was
"to root out all the causes of warfare and to clear away all inducements
to distrust."

During Stephen's reign, the English and Norman barons had undermined
feudal authority. Henry dealt with this by instituting many reforms which
would increase royal authority and at the same time decrease the power
of the feudal laws which had been manipulated by the errant barons. Henry's
most important policy had been the instruction that barons had to relinquish
custody of castles which had belonged to the crown. This policy, although
challenging, struck at the main problem which was baronial control of the
provinces. Initiating the policy was very risky, as it was doubtful that
Henry could enforce it due to his reduction in military strength. However,
although there were some challenges (ie.William Le Gros, count of Aumale),
his demonstration of determination meant the eventual submission of the
barons, and the royal properties were restored. Henry had mastered the
barons and this now allowed royal ministers to restore the royal demesne.

The Scots were an area which Henry had to deal with on his accession
to the throne because Stephen had made important concessions to king David
of Scotland in return for an end to frontier attacks. Cumberland, Westmoreland,
and Northumberland had been passed under the control of the king of Scotland.
Henry solved this problem by calling a meeting with king Malcolm of Scotland.
Henry didn't want his kingdom to be divided and therefore told Malcolm
he intended to retrieve the land. Malcolm realised Henry's greater argument
and greater strength and therefore he acquiesced. In return Henry granted
Malcolm the earldom of Huntingdon.

Wales was less of a success for Henry. He did manage to recover his
hereditary rights in Wales, but the implications of the oaths which had
been sworn by the welsh princes were a matter upon which differing views
could be held. Later events with the Welsh leaders were to become problematic
as they became increasingly defiant.

During Henry's reign, monetary payments replaced military service as
the primary duty of vassals, the position of the exchequer was altered
as Henry recognised the importance of the need to keep accurate records
and tax collection. Henry replaced incompetent sheriffs with more reliable
men and he expanded the authority of the royal courts. Henry's reforms
allowed a body of common law to emerge, which replaced the treacherous
feudal customs and county courts.

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G.J.Taylor hiu417@bangor.ac.uk

e) What importance should
be attached to the development of the principle of hereditary tenure during
the reign of Henry II ? (cf S.E. Thorne, Cambridge Law Journal 1959) .

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f) Summarise the major legal
reforms carried out by Henry. Why were these changes necessary ? Pay special
attention to the Possessory Assizes and the Grand Assize. What were they,
and what procedure did they use ? What problems were raised by the Constitutions
of Clarendon ?

Katie Mooney

Sarah Hunter

Traditionally Henry II has been seen as the originator of the common
law in England. The reforms he made during his reign have been seen to
have given his predecessors more power across the whole country, as Henry
was able to make sure that the kings justice was relatively the same across
the country. M.T Clanchy put forward two major principles in the reforms
of the English law, firstly in civil law, a tenants title could only be
questioned in the court under the king's authority as he was overlord of
all freemen and property. This gave the chance for any freeman to question
the right of land ownership and try to prevent any unlawful taking of land.
Secondly, in Criminal law, the king would have sole justistiction over
everyone, including members of the church and serfs. This, in practice,
gave the English kings ultimate authority over all members of his realm
and the power to over see all cases that the royal justice system wanted.

Henry was able to fulfil these principles through two outlets, the invention
of assizes and the standifcation of juries across England. In the twelfth
century the jury was much different form the form it follows today and
consisted of a group of people fro a certain community who swore to tell
the truth about something they knew or had investigated. Juries had developed
in other countries in Europe, such as France, where the judge would personally
hear each jurors opinion independently and make the final decision. This
developed much differently in England as the judges wanted to do no more
that declare law, therefore left the final decisions to be made among the
jurors, creating a system much more diverted from that of its continental
counter parts. Henry's second instrument was that of the assize. Assize
were instructions to judges and sheriff of how the king believe law should
be carried out. These at the time were not real laws as we see them today,
later developing into parliamentary acts, but they allowed Henry to by-pass
baronial consent, therefore speeding up the process he could make the changes.

After looking at the general changes, one must discuss why these reforms
happened and if they were actually reforms. Historians have given several
different views of this,

1) Henry wanted a quicker form of justice, either from his own widely known
impatience or because of the need of profits of justice to help him defend
his continental land.

2) Henry needed a more efficient justice system to raise the amount of
profits of justices for the reason described above.

3) Henry had to gain control of the church and Barons which has caused
problems in Stephen's reign and regain control of the country.- seems unlikely
because may of the changes happened well into Henry's reign and for his
first years he still use the same methods as Stephen.

4) (view of M.T Clanchy) He did no more than write down what he believed
were the laws of his grandfather, Henry I, and just used the assizes to
establish it nationally.

It does seem that there was no conscience pattern of reform, as Henry did
what was needed when it was needed, as he did not drastically change the
law, just created a way they became more standadized and efficient across
England.

Henry was able to develop the civil law by use of the Grand assize and
Petty Assizes. The Grand assize offered a jury of twelve knights in alternative
to the trial by battle. These dealt with the most important civil cases
concerning ownership, usually those of Henry's tenants-in-chief or the
church, giving an effective and quicker way to deal with the problems that
the traditional processes of civil law.

The Petty assizes dealt with the possession of land and were open to
all freemen covered by the following assizes,

1) Novel Disseisin- this dealt with the unlawful seizure of property or
disseisin. Through this assize cases became much quicker as Henry levied
fines upon those who delayed the cases. It purpose was to decide whether
aN unlawful action had taken place, relying upon the jury for the final
decision. This was quite limited because it only looked at who lived on
the land, not who had the rightful entitlement to the land disputed.

2) Mort d' ancestor (1176)- This built upon the problems of the Novel Disseisin
and looked at the right of inheritance. The jurors had to decide whether
the heir was the actual legal heir and that his father had the right to
the land.

3) Assize of Darrien Presentment(1179-80)- This assize was concerned with
whom should have the right to place a priest in a vacant tenancy by looking
who last chose the previous person their.

4) Assize of Utrum _- This gave the jury the right to decide if a matter
of clerical dispute should be tried with the royal or clerical courts.

Both 4 and 3 can be seen as Henry trying to make sure that the church did
not by pass his laws and given protection within the clerical courts.

Finally when looking at criminal law, one must examine the Assize of
Clarendon. In general Henry made the criminal law much more harsher and
efficient, as he saw there was not enough criminals being caught or convicted.
The Assize of Clarendon tried to tackle this by giving the sheriff, and
later the judges, the right to over-rule the Barons to capture suspected
criminals who lived upon or hid within the baron's area. This was seen
to be Henry undermining the authority of the barons, as this action brought
them all under his rule and they could not harbour criminal wanted by the
royal courts. Also jurors of an area were expected to accuse those know
criminal who had to been caught to be brought up to trial, and created
a greater chance of those who were convicted to be sent into exile. Henry
tried to bring everyone under his authority by professing in Clarendon
that all those accused of serious crimes, such as murder, where to be brought
to the royal courts, even if they were members of the church. This caused
many problems with the church, especially and most importantly with archbishop
Becket, as he took away the sanctuary the clerical court gave and made
criminal pay the full penalty he wanted to establish his own authority
across the country.

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K.D.Mooney hiu45d@bangor.ac.uk

The Legal reforms of Henry II can not be underestimated,
they used the common law to rapidly expand and also provided his predecessors
with greater power across the whole country.

To give counsel and implement his policies Henry surrounded himself
with intelligent and experienced officials. The exchequer grew ever more
efficient in the collection of revenues and kept a close watch over the
accounting of sheriffs. The independent powers of the sheriffs diminished,
and their judicial authority was curtailed with the visitations of itinerant
justices.

The major reforms of Henry however, were his Grand Assize and later
his Possessory Assizes which popularised trial by jury for civil cases.
Previously disputes usually concerning land ownership would be settled
by a battle if a compromise could not be reached. The Grand Assize allowed
the defendent (the tenant of the land in question) at a price to have the
case decided by a jury of twelve knights who were summoned by the sheriff.
This provided a much more rational way of settling disputes. However, it
often took the jury a long time to reach a verdict. In response to this
Henry created three Possessory Assizes to provide speedier remidies to
the problems surrounding land ownership, these included:-

Novel disseisin- This was concerned with the unlawful seizure of property
(disseisin). A jury would be asked the following question, has the plaintiff
been disseised unjustly and without judgement within the period covered
by the assize?

Mort d' Ancestor- This was an extension of the novel disseisin paying particular
attention to the problem of inheritance. In this case the jury was asked
to decide whether the heir was the actual legal heir and that his father
had the right to the land.

Darrien Presentment- Lords of villages had the right to place a priest
in a vacant tenancy. some villages however, had two lords and it often
became very confusing as to whose turn it was to choose a priest. The Darrien
Presentment simply worked out who last selected the priest.

If you had a grievance related to any of the above assizes you would have
to go to the chancery and get the appropriate writ, for example a writ
of Mort d' Ancestor. Thereupon you would pay for it and take it back to
the sheriff of your area. The case was then heard by a jury consisting
of twelve local people whose job was to tell the truth about something
they knew or had investigated. This is very different to modern day juries
who base their verdict around the evidence presented to them in the court
room. If the jury passed a judgement in your favour but the losing party
continued to hold the land in question then the whole weight of royal force
would back you up.

Why then were these legal reforms necessary? When Henry became king
of England he was also in possession of an extensive area in France which
was coming under serious threat by the king of France. Henry needed to
profit from justice in order for him to defend this land.

A more effective legal system and overall growth in the common law would
also allow Henry to spend more time abroad knowing that England was capable
of running itself effectively.

After the anarchy that occured in Stephen's reign it was also important
for Henry to secure quicker justice si that better order could be maintained
in the land and to allow him to exert his authority over the church and
Barons.

His exertion of authority over the church can be seen through the Assize
of Clarendon which was concerned with criminal law. It demanded that twelve
lawful men of every one hundred and four lawful men of every village should
declare on oath if any in their village had been accused or suspected of
being a robber, murderer, brigand or receivers of such since Henry became
king. This resulted in threatening clerical immunity, the church could
no longer protect clerks found guilty of the crimes in question and it
meant that they were now subject to ordinary secular punishment. It took
away the sanctuary the clerical court gave and made criminals pay the full
penalty.

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S.R.Hunter hiu405@bangor.ac.uk

g) What changes did Henry
make in the fiscal government of England ? What were the principal sources
of revenue available to the king ? What changes were made in the collection
of taxes ? What is the significance of the Saladin Tithe ? Why did Henry
II rely so heavily on mercenary soldiers and how did he pay for them?

Abigail Bryant

Jacquie Littler

Henry did not initially make any revolutionary changes in
governmental policies. It was a slow process of reorganization and application
of similar means and principles to that of his grandfather that enabled
Henry II to re-establish a smooth running profitable and viable system
of government.

Britain was a unique part of Henry's empire as it already had constructs
of governmental and judicial systems in place. They were, however, failing
slightly due to the neglect and bad management of his predecessors. In
the early years of his reign the king took steps to standardize coinage
with the view to maximizing the financial yield that taxation could bring.
The functions of The Exchequer were revived and it's power over men like
the Sheriffs were tightened as part of Henry's plan to extract the most
profit from his subjects.

What were the principle sources of revenue available to the king?

The contemporary and independent observer, Gerald of Wales observed
that it was "the income from proffers, penalties and taxes which kept
Henry II solvent....they took care to augment their revenue from rents
by casual income and relied more on subsidiary that basic sources of profit."
(Henry II, Warren Pg 273)

Henry was always in need of more money. At the start of his reign Henry
himself re-endowed the monarchy with money from the revenues of Normandy,
Anjou and Aquitaine, with the added bonus of Stephen's lordships in 1159.
The desperate requirement for money was highlighted as the government were
forced to take such measures as to revive ancient taxes like the Danegeld.
This tax was based on very old system of assessment and which was subject
to many exemptions, but it was resurrected in the 2nd and 8th years of
his reign to raise money. There was immediate money to be accrued in the
form if fines or rents. For example, any errors on the valuation of Sheriffs
'farms' os manors were rectified as they became known and an 'increment'
was charged. It was very important that Henry regained any royal land that
had been lost by encroachment (purprestures) and those lands which should
have reverted back to the king because of the death of the rightful heir.
All of this required systematic and vigilant enquires throughout out the
land and to achieve this the king would require a capable and efficient
department within his government. This was the job of the newly re-conditioned
Exchequer, which was in turn part of the authority which was to become
the kings biggest power.

What changes were made to the collection of taxes?

The Exchequer now had tighter control over the Sheriffs. It enforced
their duty to collect the royal revenue and services. It was the sheriff
who handled the writs and the juries, they had to guard prisoners and prepare
for the visits from the Itinerant Justices, and it was the constant circulation
of these royal agents which kept the sheriff under their supervision. The
Sheriffs were operating within a system which required a great deal more
of them than it had done in pervious years, it was necessary for each Sheriff
to meet the Exchequer twice a year and all proceedings and correspondence
were now being recorded in duplicate. Another very important source of
revenue to the Crown was the justice system. Any freeman could now have
the right to call an inquest, for a small fee to the crown. This sale of
access to justice was a source of great profit.

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A.H.N.Bryant hiu68a@bangor.ac.uk

In the fourth year of his reign, Henry attempted to make a major reform
of the coinage. The debasement of coinage was a perennial problem during
the Middle Ages and there had been two ways to counter this; a fairly frequent
recoinage and the required payment of certain fixed taxes with blanched
money. During the reign of Stephen control over coinage had lapsed and
Henry tried to rectify this situation. Instead of the old methods he tried
to flush old money out of circulation and implemented a standard pattern.
This reform improved the revenue from taxes and rents and probably helped
trade as well.

The towns provided Henry with the new tax 'tallage' which had descended
out of the old 'aids' and 'gifts'.

Henry revived the Danegeld in the early years of his reign (a sign of how
desperately the crown needed money) as this was an ancient form of taxation.

One of the major reforms to taxation was the implementation of the 'Saladin
Tithe' this tax was widely hated by all but provided Henry with large sums
of money.

What were the principal forms of revenue available to Henry?

Many of the new reforms provided Henry with stable and vital forms of
money, especially the Saladin Tithe and the Danegeld but ancient forms
of taxation provided Henry with, if modest, sums of money. For instance
he halted the appointment of Bishops in vacant diocese as a way of directing
their income directly to himself, this greatly agitated the clergy especially
those of St Albans when he claimed his jurisdiction over the vacant church
of Luton. Henry gained money specifically from the knights in the form
of scutage, a duty which the knights had to pay to Henry on a yearly basis.
Feudal tenures also provided the crown with revenue in the forms of ancient
rights that the king had as overlord;

Wardship

Marriage

knighting his eldest son

His eldest daughter getting married

Ransoming his body

Gracious aid.

It was the Sheriffs who collected these taxes for Henry and they were known
as the Royal Debt collectors. Some of the ineffective Sheriffs were later
replaced with more effective men to collect the revenues.

Significance of the Saladin Tithe.

This tax was agree upon by Louis VII and Henry as means of gaining funds
for a Crusade in the Holy Land, therefore this tax was legitimate in the
eyes of the church. It wasn't until 1188 that this levy was implemented
in England. What makes the Saladin Tithe so significant was that it was
a ten percent levy on all moveable goods which everyone had to pay. Previous
to this taxes were only paid by the barons and gentry but now everybody
had to pay their share for the Crusade to go ahead. this resulted in this
tax being hated and detested by all. It was so hated that Louis VII actually
apologised to the people of France for even suggesting that such a tax
take place, there was no such respite for the Anglo-Normans.

The mercenaries was one of the first things that Henry dispensed with
on becoming king, Stephen had relied heavily on the Flemish mercenaries
but Henry disposed of them s he couldn't afford them despite the fact that
this lowered his military power greatly yet at the same time earned him
popularity from the disgruntled Barons. Henry was, however, to later rely
on these hired men. There was nothing new in this but what Henry did was
to refashion the army. He made the mercenaries the mainstay of the army
and specially trained and equipped the mercenaries for siege attack. These
mercenaries were heavily relied on due to the specific way that they had
been trained and fought, and they curbed the power of the Barons as Henry,
if he used mainly mercenaries, wouldn't owe too much to the Barons in return
for their services. The knights were affected by this as despite the mercenaries
being cheaper than the mounted knight the knight would fight for the king
for free as Scutage, Henry just valued them more as they represented the
way that fighting was heading at this time. Henry's treasurer wrote, 'That
the power of the ruler rises and falls as their available wealth ebbs and
flows; those who lack it are prey to their enemies, and those who have
it prey upon them.'

h) What were the major offices
in local government in the reign of Henry II ? What kinds of people filled
these offices and what duties did Henry expect of them ?

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I) How was local government
organised in relation to the officers identified in question (h) ? What
was the significance of (a) the shire (b) the hundred (c) the vill ?

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j) Why did Henry come into
conflict with the Church ? What principles were are stake in the controversy
with Beckett ?

Zoe Adams

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In the 12th century there were a lot of men who were counted as being
the clergy although they had no religious vocation and conducted their
lives sometimes quite disreputably. Henry believed that Becket would use
his influence to persuade the bishops and clergy to accept some curtailment
of clerical immunity.

Complaints reached the king's ear in the 1160's

-a rural dean had blackmailed a burgess of Scarborough

-Philip de Broy, canon of St. Paul's Church, Bedford, had publicly insulted
a royal justice.

Henry pressed the subject of criminal clergymen at a Westminster Council
in October 163. He asked the bishops to agree that clerks convicted of
crimes in Church courts and then degraded should be handed over to royal
officers to be punished as laymen. Becket persuaded his colleagues to refuse.
The King then asked if they would agree to abide by the ancient customs
of the realm. Becket refused and the other bishops assented. This meant
that there was a breach between the king and Becket.

Pope Alexander III urged Becket to compromise. Becket eventually agreed
to observe the ancient customs, but the king was not satisfied. At the
Council of Clarendon in January 1164, 16 ancient customs concerned with
relations between the church and state were named. One aspect of these
was that if the clergy was accused o criminal offences they had to go to
a royal justice before their trial in an ecclesiastical court. If they
were convicted, they no longer had the protection of the church an could
be treated like laymen. Becket opposed this and then suddenly gave way.
In the autumn of 1164 the Pope declared 10 of these points invalid. Becket
recanted his acceptation and then fled to France.

Following this there was 6 years of stalemate. The Pope supported Becket
but Becket had lost the support of the bishops in England. In 1170, Henry
decided that he wanted to crown his son in his lifetime. This made Becket
furious and he wanted the Pope to intervene. Henry arranged a meeting for
July 22nd and Becket returned to England on 1st December. He was preceded
by his letters obtained from the Pope in which he pronounced against the
bishops who had been present at the coronation of Henry's son. Becket's
arrival was given a hostile reception by those in authority. On Christmas
Day, he pronounced the excommunication of his enemies from the pulpit.
As a result, 4 knights decided to kill him. Becket was murdered on 29th
December. The Constitution of Clarendon was withdrawn.

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Z.K.Adams hiu45a@bangor.ac.uk

Using the relevant volume of ENGLISH HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS
find, read and annotate the following documents: